Homemade Sander, sort of

[Ron Standley]

I have been resawing some wood lately, small pieces only. I have always wanted a surface sander to get rid of the band saw marks. Someday I may spring for a Sand Flea if I get more serious or need to work large pieces.

Toyed with the idea of some sort of fixture to use the oscillating spindle sander I already have, so I hobbled this together today. Only took a few hours to make and certainly has limited application, but the pieces I work on are small so it seems to fit.

Comprised of two pieces of wood and two shelf brackets (and a hand full of screws). I used 5/8" 11 ply plywood, finished with shellac.


Some notes:

The two pieces of wood need to be as close to a right angle as possible.

My spindle sander is of, lets say, lower quality. The spindle is not quite vertical to the surface. Worked this by putting a piece of tape at the back of the bottom board to align the vertical board parallel with the spindle.

Used the 3" drum since it runs true (see note above).

Fine adjustments to the drum spacing (exposure?) are best handled by adjusting the position of the fixture on the surface before tightening the clamps with a small hammer.

Now that it is finished, what would I change. Almost everything, but thats why we build a prototype anyway. Thinner ply, 3/8" probably fine. Some sort of adjusting mechanism for setting the drum exposure.

The last picture is a 1/4" thick resawn piece of maple burl. I sanded the left half only. To make the saw marks stand out for this picture I lightly hit it with a piece of sandpaper so the sawdust would collect in the irregularities on the surface. Darn if it doesn't work.

Small side effect, it can launch a piece of wood across my garage.

[Rolf]

Ron,
That is one very clever idea!!!

[comreno]

Thanks for sharing your idea.
Gotta use what you have.
May have to try this myself.
Thanks;
Larry

[Arcy]

Nice idea. If you move the fence so it is outside the spindle and run the wood between the fence and the sander you can use this as a small thickness sander.

If you mount a bullseye on the wall then your small side effect becomes a feature

--Rob

[oily]

Great idea Ron, Already started gathering parts.

[Wood Dog]

That's putting your thinking cap on......clever6613-1.gif

[Steve_S]

I built a v-drum sander with 5" roller some time ago, but the opening is too big for anything shorter than 6" or thin. This seems to be a good repurpose for a couple low rpm/hp motors I have under the bench. I already have some 3" drums that I picked up at flea markets or garage sales over the years. Great idea!

[HAMMER]

I like this idea of yours...... just to show you I have a competative streak in me...

What is the distance record for you best launch????

[Ron Standley]

Originally Posted by HAMMER

I like this idea of yours...... just to show you I have a competative streak in me...

What is the distance record for you best launch????

About 10 feet. If we take Rob (arcy) suggestion converting it to a thickness sander I probably could get 30 feet or so. Same process as those mechanical baseball or tennis ball pitching machines.

[HAMMER]

Ok then .... distance to beat is 30 feet.... time to get working.